Cthulhu
Cthulhu, otherwise known as Kutulu, Kthulhut, Thu Thu, or Tulu, is one of the Great Old Ones who resembles a bat-winged, clawed, octupus-headed humanoid. Cthulhu sleeps in a deathlike trance beneath the Pacific Ocean, but he will one day awaken to rule the world. Origins Records of Cthulhu's origins are fragmentary, but it seems that he originated on the world of Vhoorl in the twenty-third dimension. He later travelled to the the green double star of Xoth, where he mated with a creature named Idh-yaa to produce the Great Old Ones Ghatanothea, Ythogtha, and Zoth-Omnog. From here, Cthulhu, his children, and a species known as the star-spawn flew to Saturn, descending to Earth from there. Upon their arrival, Cthulhu and his retinue took up resident on a continent in the Pacific Ocean, on which they built the great stone city of R'lyeh. At first, Cthulhu's spawn encountered resistance from the Elder Things, who had dwelt on the earth for millions of years before Cthulhu's coming. Following a war in which Cthulhu's spawn destroyed all of the Elder Things' land cities, the two species declared peace and agreed not to interfere with each other. Following this arrangement, Cthulhu enjoyed many years of freedom in this world, but soon he fell into a period of deep hibernation. During these millions of years, humanity slowly evolved. According to later doctrine, Cthulhu spoke to these new beings in their dreams, telling them where to find the statues in his image he had brought down from the stars and instructing them in the proper worship of the lord of R'lyeh. In this way, the cult of Cthulhu began. Sinking of R'lyeh One day, disaster struck black R'lyeh. It may have been the vengeance of unknown gods, changes in the stars, or the moon being ripped from the earth (though evidence suggests that Cthulhu's followers may have had a hand in this). The time of this catastrophe is also uncertain; according to cult doctrine, this happened after the founding of his first cult, but others suggest that it occurred long before humanity's rise. No matter the cause or time, the city of R'lyeh sank beneath the Pacific Ocean, trapping Cthulhu and all of his spawn. The water blocked most of their telepathic signals, cutting off all contact with their worshippers except through occasional dreams. Cthulhu was helpless to do anything until the stars came right, when he would be freed from his prison. Since then, Cthulhu's tomb has emerged from the water from time to time, freeing Cthulhu for a brief while. These have only been short respites for the Great Old One, for on each occasion R'lyeh has sunk beneath the sea after a few days or weeks. A day will come, however, when the black city will not return to the sea floor. Cthulhu will then rise and slay the world, ushering in a new age. Cult of Cthulhu The pioneering work of Professor Angell and his successors has given us much information about this secretive organisation. Cthulhu's cults are quite widespread; traces of his worship have appeared in Haiti, Louisiana, the South Pacific, Mexico, Arabia, Siberia, K'n-yan, and Greenland. The deathless priests who lead the cult live somewhere in the mountains of China, but the cult's true centre is, or was, located somewhere in the Arabian desert near Irem. For the most part, this cult has remained secret, but the Hawaiian islanders still tell legends of Kana-loa, the evil squid-god who was imprisoned in the underworld. Cthulhu's rites are often performed near the ocean or a large body of water, and Halloween is considered to be one of his high holy days. Theories Rumour has it that Cthulhu himself is merely the high-priest of Yog-Sothoth. He is mentioned more often than the other Old Ones, and it has been suggested that his coming signals the rise of others. Some enmity exists between Cthulhu and his "half-brother", Hastur the unspeakable. Still, no one knows just how Cthulhu and Hastur are related or why this conflict between them exists. A good number of apocryphal beliefs about Cthulhu and his nature have sprung up. In some texts, Cthulhu is called a water elemental, even though it is the ocean that blocks his telepathic signals to humanity. The Sussex Manuscript mentions Cthulhu as a manifestation of Nyarlathotep, though no other source interprets him in this way. Francis Laney attempted to link Cthulhu to the Quicha-Ayar war-god, Huitzilopocktli. This is seriously flawed, however; not only is Huitzilopochtli an Aztec god, but he bears absolutely no resemblance to Cthulhu. Finally, some have drawn parallels between Cthulhu and K'tholo of Souchis, a high priest of Mu who fled that continent's destruction and took up residence in South America. Few accept any of these hypotheses. Category:Pages Category:The Great Old Ones